The Spooky Heroes: Ghoul in the School
by Mad Dr. Matt
Summary: Chapter 6 is up. I'm back! Forgive me for lack of updates. But this series isn't dead unlike some of the characters. Stay tuned for more!
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: The Mad Doctor does not own the majority of characters in this series of stories. They all belong to their respective companies.  
  
The Spooky Heroes  
  
Ghoul in the School  
  
By Mad Doctor Matt  
  
Based on characters created by Tim Burton  
  
Chapter 1  
  
In the darkness of a basement of abandoned warehouse in the town of Sleepy Hollow, an evil man was watching his television. The man was pale, thin and bald. Dr. Gothic Grim was his name and his brow was furrowed in anger as he watched the TV. An anchorwoman was broadcasting a report.  
  
"The damage from the attack of few days ago is still being repaired. Construction crews have assured us that all will be fixed soon. In the meantime, it is still unknown to the people of our fair town what caused their cars to transform into monsters and wreak havoc. A few are still afraid to even approach their cars," said the anchorwoman. Dr. Grim grinned momentarily.  
  
"Fortunately, no casualties have been reported and few were injured. Even more fortunate, the town was saved thanks to a trio of unusually dressed people who stopped the car monsters. No one knows who these heroes are. But isn't that one of the main features of superheroes: keeping their identities secret? Whoever they are, we here at the studio thank these heroes for saving our town and hope they'll come again if something like this happens again. This is Winona O'Hara signing off," said the anchorwoman.  
  
Suddenly, an axe split the TV set down the middle. And holding the handle was Dr. Grim. He growled angrily. "The first thing I do when I rule this town is make sure that news show is cancelled. Well, at least the population is shaken. But it still vexes me that Beetlejuice and his posse defeated me," said Dr. Grim as he walked away from his destroyed television.  
  
He walked toward an area of the lair where a muscular figure wearing a black cloak was slashing at paper ghosts with a scythe. He was Mecha- Reaper, Dr. Grim's ultimate ghost hunter and mechanical servant. Mecha- Reaper turned his attention to his master.  
  
"Come up with a new plan, Master?" asked Mecha-Reaper. "Not yet. I'm still trying to figure out a way to defeat Beetlejuice and his friends. If I could, I would go back to the Neitherworld and capture more ghosts. Unfortunately, I don't have enough BJ energy to get there since Beetlejuice got some of it back. And even with his lack of most of his powers, he was still able to defeat Doomie thanks to those gadgets. We can't even attack 1313 Poe Lane. From what you've told me, it's now impossible for us to set foot on that hill unless we want to get a beating from those trees and gargoyles. But Beetlejuice must have a weakness," said Dr. Grim.  
  
"You know, we'd still have Beetlejuice trapped in our capsule if his friends hadn't come to rescue him. Who would have known that the ghost would have such good friends?" asked Mecha-Reaper. Then Dr. Grim's face lit up with an evil smile.  
  
"Mecha-Reaper, you're a genius! That's it! The answer's been in front of us the entire time. We should have known. A true villain attacks neither the body nor the mind. If you really want to make your enemy suffer and do whatever you want, you attack the heart," said Dr. Grim.  
  
"I don't follow. How could attacking Beetlejuice's heart work? He's not even alive," said Mecha-Reaper. "Not in the physical sense, you idiotic piece of junk!" yelled Dr. Grim. "So much for being a genius," said Mecha-Reaper.  
  
"We'll draw Beetlejuice out by attacking the one thing he cares about most: that girl who came to save him. What was her name? Lydia Deetz, I think," said Dr. Grim. "How are we going to get at her, Master? She lives at 1313 Poe Lane with Beetlejuice and Dr. Notrub," said Mecha- Reaper.  
  
"Leave that to me. A little hacking on the web and we'll find out where she works or which school she goes to if she's a student. Once we find out where she goes when she's not at Dr. Notrub's place, that's when we'll strike swiftly and without mercy. Then Beetlejuice will regret ever crossing the path of Dr. Gothic Grim," said Dr. Grim. Then he walked to his computer laughing maniacally. He was brewing yet another nasty scheme in his pursuit of taking over the world. 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
  
Meanwhile, at Sleepy Hollow College, Lydia Deetz was hard at work preparing a development solution. The raven haired, pale skinned girl dressed in black listened with great interest to her teacher, Dr. Matthew Vincent Notrub. The black haired, bespectacled teacher lectured his students on the components of the solution.  
  
Of all the teachers she had met since coming to Sleepy Hollow College, Dr. Notrub was her favorite. She liked him not only for his expertise in the field of photography, but he had also let her stay in his home for free. She had also told Dr. Notrub a secret she had been keeping from everyone for years and in doing so, she had learned what kind of man Dr. Notrub really was. When he not teaching, he made himself up to look like the famous horror actor, Vincent Price at home through the aid of styling his hair wild and the addition of a fake moustache. He was crazy about anything spooky, scary or unusual.  
  
"Students, mix that development solution well. Otherwise, your pictures are going to turn out badly. And we don't want that now, do we?" asked Dr. Notrub. "No, Dr. Notrub," replied the students in unison. "After you finish mixing the solution, you'll all go into the dark room and begin the process of developing. Be careful. Some of these chemicals are highly toxic," warned the doctor.  
  
Then there was a knock at the door of the photography lab. Dr. Notrub turned around and saw a red-haired man through the window of the door. "It's the dean. Excuse me, students. Continue working on the solutions. I'll be back soon," said Dr. Notrub as he walked toward the door, opened it and stepped outside.  
  
'I hope Dean Elfman's not angry with Dr. Notrub. I would hate for him to leave even if Dr. Notrub doesn't quite act like the other teachers. He is much friendlier than some of them,' thought Lydia. Then Dr. Notrub opened the door and walked inside. He stood in front of his class.  
  
"Class, Dean Elfman has just told me we have a new student joining us today," said Dr. Notrub. 'That's odd. College classes don't really allow new students to join into classes. Especially since we're almost a quarter way through the course,' thought Lydia. "This might come as unusual since that colleges don't exactly work the way old schools work. But Dean Elfman said that her parents had just made a generous contribution to the college. Students, I'd like you to meet Miss Claire Brewster," said Dr. Notrub.  
  
Lydia's eyes looked up from her development solution. 'Brewster? No, it can't be!' she thought. Through the door strode a blonde girl wearing a pink dress and a wide grin. 'It is! And I thought I had seen the last of her since Miss Shannon's,' thought Lydia.  
  
"Why don't you tell us a bit about yourself, Claire?" asked Dr. Notrub. "Well, I'm super rich and I want to be a model since I obviously have the looks that can strike big in the world of professional modeling. But as it turned out, I need a lame-o photography class as a requirement for modeling. They said I need an understanding of how photography works. Well, you've got to take the bad with the good I guess," said Claire in a sassy voice.  
  
Dr. Notrub was unsure of what to make of his new student. "Well, Claire, while the rest of the students work, why don't you take this textbook into the back and read up on what we've covered already?" asked Dr. Notrub handing Claire a textbook. "Of course, Dr. Notrash," said Claire taking the textbook. "Uh that's Notrub, Claire," said Dr. Notrub. "Whatever," said Claire as she walked toward the back of the room.  
  
As she passed by several of the students, she received some reactions. Girls stared with admiration of her clothing while boys gawked at her. But as she passed by Lydia, she gave her a dirty look. Lydia just looked away.  
  
'It's started. Once Claire gets through with some of the students, she'll start forming her cool crowd. And it seems she hasn't changed a bit,' thought Lydia.  
  
Dr. Notrub took a look at Lydia's expression. 'Seems Lydia knows this girl. And from how Claire looked and the way Lydia reacted, they did not get along. Maybe I should talk to Lydia about this and also Beetlejuice,' thought the good doctor.  
  
Later, after the end of class bell rang, Lydia gathered her things and walked out of the classroom. As her bad luck would have it, she had run into Claire who had already picked up a few admirers.  
  
"Well, Lydia Deetz, we meet again. Just goes to show they'll let anybody in this college. I mean, just take a look at her. She's got all the makings of a world-class freak," said Claire in her snooty tone. Her admirers laughed at her comment.  
  
"At least I didn't have to buy my way into this class, Claire," Lydia shot back. "Well, I simply had to get into this class. I mean, my parents wanted me to have the best. And we heard that Dr. Nodrab of Sleepy Hollow College was the best photography teacher. Even if he is too sappy and a fashion reject. If he wasn't the best, I wouldn't have come to the middle of nowhere," said Claire. "Don't talk about Dr. Notrub that way. He's one of the nicest people there is," said Lydia who was trying to keep calm.  
  
"Lydia? Is something wrong?" asked Dr. Notrub stepping out of the classroom. "No, Dr. Notrub. Nothing's wrong," said Lydia.  
  
"Well, I'm about ready to head back home. Are you ready to go too?" asked Dr. Notrub. Claire's grin got bigger. "You have a teacher for a boyfriend? Way to suck up to a teacher, Lydia," she said with a laugh. "He's not my boyfriend! I'm just renting from him!" exclaimed Lydia. "Sure, Lydia. I'm sure you're the best in this class if you treat him exactly right. Ta-ta Lydia," said Claire as she left with her troupe of snickering women.  
  
Lydia growled and stomped off toward the exit of the building. "Come on, Dr. Notrub. Let's get back to the mansion," she said as she passed by him. Dr. Notrub just followed her at a loss for words at what just happened. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3  
  
Later, Lydia and Dr. Notrub were riding in Dr. Notrub's black hearse through the streets of Sleepy Hollow. Dr. Notrub glanced over at the seat next to him. Lydia was staring out the window with a disgusted look on her face.  
  
"Listen, Lydia. I'm sorry if I embarrassed you back at the college. Now the whole school's going to think that you're just sucking up to me," said Dr. Notrub. Lydia sighed and said, "It's not your fault, Dr. Notrub. Claire was always trying to make my life miserable back in Peaceful Pines. I knew it was hard to fit in due to my personality and looks. But Claire made it even harder."  
  
"As a teacher, I don't believe it is right in biasing against my students. But we're not in school right now and so I say that her behavior is inexcusable. I can expect this kind of behavior from junior high school and high school students. But I never expected this kind of behavior from a college student," said Dr. Notrub.  
  
"She did some horrible stuff to me back at Miss Shannon's School for Girls. She even cheated me out of a part in our production of Romeo and Juliet. But she got what she deserved in the end," said Lydia who was starting to smile at the thought. "Let me guess. Beetlejuice?" asked Dr. Notrub. "He did quite a possession number on her and made it a Shakespeare festival to remember," said Lydia.  
  
"Don't let Claire or anyone else make you feel bad just because you're different from them. You're much better than Claire is," said Dr. Notrub. "You're right, Dr. Noturb. If I didn't have my special personality, I wouldn't be able to be good friends with Beetlejuice, Jack or even you. Come to think of it, I wonder how Beetlejuice is going to react when he hears the news," said Lydia. "We'll soon find out," said Dr. Notrub as he pulled up a driveway lined with leafless trees and drove around the back of a gargoyle-covered mansion.  
  
Later, Lydia and Dr. Notrub walked into the immense foyer of the mansion. The walls were covered with pictures of Dr. Notrub's favorite horror actors. Their eyes appeared to be watching the two people. "I'm going downstairs to change, Lydia. Then I've got to tweak the weapons a bit. Got to keep them in tip-top shape if we have to fight Dr. Grim anytime soon," said Dr. Notrub as he headed downstairs to his laboratory leaving Lydia alone in the foyer.  
  
"Beetlejuice! Jack! We're home!" called Lydia. Then, up from the floor, an unusual fellow floated through it. He was pale white and had dirty blonde hair and putrid green eyes. He had a black and white striped sombrero on his head and an identically colored poncho covering his body. In his right hand, he held a pair of bones that he was clacking like castanets. He did a little Mexican style dance in front of Lydia. Lydia smiled. She was used to having her ghost friend greet her in some strange way when she got home from school.  
  
"Bravo, Beetlejuice. You may have lost some of your powers. But you still are a good dancer," said Lydia. Beetlejuice grinned. 'Thanks Lydia. I like seeing you happy. Because when I saw you come up the driveway, you looked pretty glum. I thought you needed some cheering up. What's the matter? Did something happen at school?" asked Beetlejuice. "As a matter of fact, Beej, something did happen. Wait a minute. Where did you get those bones?" asked Lydia. "I uh found them," said Beetlejuice in a nervous tone.  
  
"BEETLEJUICE!" yelled an angry voice from somewhere else in mansion. "Got to go!" said Beetlejuice as he sped off into one of the rooms across the hall. Then Lydia heard one of the other doors behind her open. She turned around and saw a skeleton wearing a tuxedo with a bat bow tie. He wore an angry look on his face. He was crawling on his hands because he was holding the lower halves of his legs in them. He was Jack Skellington, a citizen from Halloweenland which was another world populated mainly by ghosts and monsters.  
  
"Lydia, where's Beetlejuice? I was taking a nap in the library and then I felt something remove my femurs. Honestly Lydia, I don't know how you put up with him," said Jack in an angry tone. "I'm sorry, Jack. Beetlejuice can't resist playing pranks on people living or dead. I'll get your bones back for you," said Lydia. "Where did he go?" asked Jack.  
  
Suddenly the door of one of the rooms opened and out came Dr. Notrub's black cat Night Shade. She was frantic as if she was running for her life. "I think he's in the kitchen judging from where Night Shade came from. She always gets so startled whenever Beetlejuice is around," said Lydia as she walked toward the doorway Night Shade had run out of. Jack trudged along on his hands behind her.  
  
Soon, Lydia and Jack had entered Dr. Notrub's kitchen. Like most of the house, it was rigged with various effects to make it seem haunted. Utensils, pots and pans were floating around in mid-air, which were really hanging from invisible wires and hooks. Lydia gazed at the floating objects and saw a black and white striped pan. Lydia reached up and grabbed it. She looked at the bottom and saw Beetlejuice's grinning face.  
  
"Nice try, Beetlejuice. Your disguises don't fool me," said Lydia. The pan floated from her hand and in a flash, turned into Beetlejuice. "Beetlejuice! I demand you return my bones at once!" yelled Jack. "All right. All right. Here's your bones," said Beetlejuice as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the bones. He gave them to Jack who immediately started to place them back in their proper places.  
  
"Beetlejuice, can't you go one day without playing pranks?" asked Lydia. "I'm sorry, Lydia. I've been trying to cut back. But I'm just bored now that I can't go to the Neitherworld," said Beetlejuice.  
  
"You claim to be the ghost with the most, Beetlejuice. So why can't you go to that world of yours?" asked Jack who was now standing up right on his newly reassembled legs. "Two reasons, Jack. First of all, I don't have a sufficient amount of my powers back to zap myself to the Neitherworld. And second of all, I'm afraid to go back there. I imagine the citizens have started looking for me with intent to throw me right to the sandworms. I wasn't exactly the Neitherworld's most popular ghoul even before Dr. Grim invaded it. Now they're all going to blame me for what he did," said Beetlejuice.  
  
"Don't worry about it, Beetlejuice. I'm sure once they see how you're trying to return all of Dr. Grim's captives to the Neitherworld, they'll forgive you," said Jack. "I hope so Jack. But I don't have many friends in the Neitherworld; just a whole lot of enemies. But I swear on my own grave, I will make Dr. Grim pay for what he did to the Neitherworld. And I'm sorry, Jack for my little prank," said Beetlejuice. "All is forgiven, Beetlejuice. It's not like I haven't made a little mistake in my afterlife as well," said Jack.  
  
'Wow, Beetlejuice has really changed since he lost most of his powers. Sure he's still the same wisecracking ghoul. But he's lately shown quite a sensitive side. If he could only get over his tendency to play pranks, then just maybe we could.nah,' thought Lydia with a smile on her face.  
  
"Is something wrong?" asked a voice from behind them. They all turned around and saw Dr. Notrub in his off-hours look. He was now wearing his lab coat, black gloves and boots. His hair was now wild and his fake moustache was in place. "Nope, nothing's wrong. Just dealing with one of Beetlejuice's prank attacks,' said Lydia.  
  
"Okay. I'm going to get dinner started," said Dr. Notrub as he walked over and opened the pantry doors. "Dr. Notrub, how's the condition of my battle suit and weapon?" asked Jack. "Think you can wield a pair of F.I.R energy coated swords?" asked Dr. Notrub as he took some cans of spaghetti sauce out of the pantry. "You bet I can. I'm great with a sword. Helps when my house needs to be cleared out of pesky poltergeists when they wield weaponry. Poltergeists can be troublesome," said Jack.  
  
"What are you making tonight, doc?" asked Beetlejuice. "Spaghetti. But you can mix worms in yours, Beetlejuice. Can you set the table, please?" asked Dr. Notrub. "Sure thing, doc," said Beetlejuice as he floated to the cupboards. Using his powers, he opened the cupboards without even touching them. Plates floated out by themselves and landed on the table. Utensils floated out of the drawers creating four neat little place settings.  
  
"So Lydia, did you tell Beetlejuice what happened at school?" asked Dr. Notrub. "Oh I nearly forgot. We got a new student in our class," said Lydia as she helped Dr. Notrub prepare the food. "Isn't it rather unusual for colleges to accept new students one quarter way through the course?" asked Jack. "Not if she can buy her way in. This new student is my old enemy, Claire Brewster," said Lydia.  
  
Beetlejuice's eyes shot wide open. "Claire's here in Sleepy Hollow? I thought we'd seen the last of her when you graduated from Miss Shannon's," said Beetlejuice with a frown on his face. "If only that were true. But she's here. Turned out she needed knowledge of photography to pursue a modeling career. And since she always has to have the best, she had to come here because Dr. Notrub is the best photography teacher in the world," said Lydia.  
  
"Well, she's got a point there. The doc is the best. But the thought of her being here just blows my mind," said Beetlejuice. Then his face went red and his head exploded. A new one grew back in an instant.  
  
"Seems she's got quite a reputation with you two," said Dr. Notrub. "I say she's asking for a good juicin'," said Beetlejuice. "No Beetlejuice! I'll admit it is tempting. But Claire might still remember all those things you did to her back in Peaceful Pines. If the same thing start happening to her here, she'll start to get suspicious. Please don't do it," said Lydia.  
  
"I'm sorry, Lydia. I just couldn't help thinking about it," said Beetlejuice. "It's okay Beetlejuice. Tell you what. You can play pranks on her if I tell her she deserves one," said Lydia. "If you ask me, she deserves a lot of pranks for her snooty attitude. That's a kind of behavior I just can't tolerate," said Dr. Notrub.  
  
"I hope you can deal with this girl, Lydia. We have enough problems as it is. What do you think Dr. Grim's up to?" asked Jack. "I don't know. But I bet it's going to be bad. But I'm sure we can handle it. After all, we are the Spooky Heroes and the world's fate rests in the balance if we can't stop Grim," said Dr. Notrub. All of them continued to help make dinner. But they couldn't help but wonder what kind of evil Dr. Grim was up to.  
  
Down in his lair, Dr. Grim sat in front of computer. He was scanning through files of various people until he found what he was looking for. "Mecha-Reaper!" he called. The horrible robot stepped up at his master's call. "You called, Master?" asked Mecha-Reaper. "I've got good news. I've found out where that Lydia Deetz girl goes during the day. She's a student at the local college. Also, Dr. Notrub teaches at this college. This is just too sweet," said Dr. Grim.  
  
"So once I capture Lydia Deetz, you can make Beetlejuice do whatever you want," said Mecha-Reaper. "Exactly. Classes are out for the day currently. But she'll be back tomorrow," said Dr. Grim.  
  
"I'll get the Zombots ready for our attack," said Mecha-Reaper. "You're not taking the Zombots this time, Mecha-Reaper. I'm perfecting them. Besides, your partner in this scheme recently tested his powers on the Zombots so they're in no condition to fight," said Dr. Grim. "Partner?" asked Mecha-Reaper. "Oh did I neglect to mention that I released another Neither-monster from the containment unit? Hey Harry! Come out and introduce yourself to Mecha-Reaper!" called Dr. Grim into the darkness of his lair.  
  
Lurching out of the darkness, a humanoid figure stepped into Mecha-Reaper's view. He was dressed in a tan hunter's outfit with broad-brimmed hat covering his entire head. In one of his hands, he carried a large blunderbuss. In the other hand, he carried the limp body of a Zombot. "Mecha-Reaper, meet your partner in this dastardly plan to get Lydia Deetz. This is Harry the Haunted Hunter, scourge of the Neitherworld Jungle as the Mind Infestor has told me," said Dr. Grim.  
  
"What did this guy do to the Zombots that put them out of commission?" asked Mecha-Reaper. Harry responded to Mecha-Reaper's question and threw the Zombot down in front of himself. Mecha-Reaper gasped as he saw the Zombot's head. It was shrunken to the size of a tennis ball.  
  
"The Mind Infestor inside Harry had given him the power to shrink heads with an energy beam projected from his blunderbuss. He also claims to be able to control any person once their head has been shrunk. But we won't know for sure until tomorrow. I can't wait until you two get inside that college and start wreaking havoc," said Dr. Grim with an evil grin.  
  
"I don't get it. When you had Doomie under control of the Mind Infestor, he had a pretty fitting power. I don't see how a hunter ties in with head- shrinking. Maybe if he was a psychiatrist then it would be fitting. By the way, I think that hat of his is too big," said Mecha-Reaper.  
  
"No, it's just the right size. It's just that my head changed size when I died," said Harry as he lifted his hat off. Mecha-Reaper gasped again when he saw the state of Harry's head. It was a shrunken head with the hair tied up in topknot and the mouth stitched shut. Dr. Grim cackled evilly.  
  
"That college is in for one shrinking experience. Good thing it's not too near midterms because their heads won't have enough room for any knowledge!" he exclaimed as he laughed crazily. Mecha-Reaper and Harry laughed along with the evil doctor. Tomorrow, the college would be in big trouble when they attacked. 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
  
The next day, at the college, Lydia was trying to pay attention to Dr. Notrub's lecture. But it was hard with Claire talking to her new cool clique about her behind her back. "Take one good look at her, girls. Like, she's a total refugee from a horror film. But it's pretty fitting that she came to the college here. What a creepy town," whispered Claire. Her clique giggled and snickered. Lydia groaned.  
  
Dr. Notrub frowned. "Would you please pay attention, Miss Brewster?" he asked. "Yes, Dr. Notre Dame," said Claire. "That's Notrub," responded Dr. Notrub. Claire ignored him and continued to talk to her clique.  
  
"But fortunately for her, she's not the biggest freak in this town," said Claire. Lydia started to eavesdrop. 'Could it be Claire has found someone else to pick on?' she thought. "The bigger freaks are those heroes I keep hearing about. The ones who saved the town a few days ago? Heroes, indeed! I bet they're the ones who started the trouble and just stopped it to make themselves look good. Plus, they're such tacky dressers," said Claire. Lydia groaned again. 'That Claire. She doesn't know a good thing when she sees one,' thought Lydia.  
  
Dr. Notrub was about to tell Claire off for talking in class again when the fire bell suddenly went off. "Oh my! Students, remain calm and proceed to the fire exit," said Dr. Notrub. Everyone started to get up and head for the door. Except Claire who was gathering her things into her backpack.  
  
"Claire! We've got to get out of here quickly! If there is a fire, we have to get moving!" yelled Lydia angrily. "Like, chill out Lydia. I'm not leaving any of my things behind. They were expensive," said Claire. Lydia sighed and left the classroom. Dr. Notrub waited until Claire left after gathering her things and then he proceeded to join his students.  
  
Dr. Notrub led the students through the hallways. "This way, class. We'll get to the fire escape soon enough," he said. "Dr. Notrub? This could be my imagination. But I don't smell any smoke or gas," said Lydia. Dr. Notrub sniffed the air. "You're right Lydia. And since this college is only one story high, you would be able to smell smoke from anywhere on this floor if there was a fire," said Dr. Notrub. "Then, like, why did the fire alarm go off?" asked Claire.  
  
Just then, a muscular man dressed in gym wear rushed toward them. "Coach Keaton, what's going on?" asked Dr. Notrub. "We have trouble, Dr. Notrub. A couple of weirdoes have broken into the college. I was training the football team out on the fieldwhen all of a sudden, two bizarre creatures dropped out of the sky," said the man.  
  
"Bizarre creatures? What did they look like?" asked Dr. Notrub. "One looked like a metallic demon skeleton wielding a scythe. The other was a man dressed in hunting attire and an oversized hat covering his head. He was holding a blunderbuss. Before I could stop them, the hunter one shot some sort of beam from his blunderbuss at the team. It did something horrible to all of them. Slowly, their heads transformed into shrunken heads. It wasn't natural. I ran inside and pulled the fire alarm. The last thing I heard was the hunter commanding them to round up everyone in the college," said Coach Keaton.  
  
Dr. Notrub gasped and looked at Lydia who had a stunned look on her face as well. "It probably wasn't a good idea to pull the fire alarm. With everyone piling out of the classrooms, it will be easier for them to round up everyone," said Dr. Notrub. "Oh no! Look!" panicked a male student pointing down the hallway.  
  
They all looked ahead and saw two burly figures marching toward them. They were dressed in football uniforms. But their heads had been shrunk. Coach Keaton and the students screamed in fear except for Dr. Notrub and Lydia who just stared at them.  
  
"What have they done to the players' handsome faces?" asked Claire shallow as always. "What are we going to do?" asked another female student. "I'll hold them off! Dr. Notrub, get your students to safety," said Coach Keaton charging toward the players like a mad bull.  
  
"Quickly everyone! Back to my classroom!" commanded Dr. Notrub. Lydia, Claire and the other students turned around and ran down the hallway leaving Coach Keaton to fend off the players with the shrunken heads.  
  
Soon enough, Dr. Notrub led his class back into his classroom and shut the door. "We've got to block it quickly!" exclaimed Dr. Notrub. The students started to pile up desks in front of the door. Loud banging came from the other side of the door. "Don't let them in!" yelled Dr. Notrub.  
  
Lydia walked up to Dr. Notrub and whispered, "We've got to do something. That metallic skeleton can only be one thing: Mecha-Reaper!" "Yes. And from what Coach Keaton told us, it seems he's got some sort of Neither- monster with him. But what can we do? We can't reveal to everyone that we're the Spooky Heroes," said Dr. Notrub in a low voice.  
  
Then he noticed Claire had opened a window. "Claire! What are you doing?" he asked. "I'm like totally getting out of here. I for one do not intend to be trapped in here with all of you," said Claire as she started to climb out the window. "We may be trapped in here. But it's much safer in here than out there," said Dr. Notrub. "That's your opinion," said Claire in her snooty tone.  
  
But before she could move anymore, a head-shrunk student suddenly grabbed her from outside. Claire shrieked. Several students rushed to her aid and pulled her out of the head-shrunk student's grasp. One of them closed the windows. "Use the long tables in the back and prop them up against the windows. We can't let them in," said Dr. Notrub. The students followed his orders and then he turned to Lydia.  
  
"We need to get help. We're stuck in a scene reminiscent of George Romero's Night of the Living Dead. The classic one, not the remake I mean," whispered Dr. Notrub. Then Lydia's face lit up. "We may be trapped in here. But we can use the watches to call Beetlejuice and Jack. They can help us," said Lydia. "Good thinking, Lydia! I'll keep the rest of the students occupied while you call them," said Dr. Notrub turning to the rest of the students. He started to tell them to keep calm. Lydia rolled back the sleeve of her black blouse revealing a digital watch that was embedded in the mouth of a skull. She pressed a button in the right eye socket.  
  
Meanwhile, at 1313 Poe Lane, Beetlejuice in the library, perched on a ladder in front of Dr. Notrub's tall bookshelf filled with horror stories. While he perused the bookshelf, strange shadows crept across it through another of Dr. Notrub's haunted house effects. "Let's see. There's got to be something interesting to read here. Ah! Here's something good: Tales from the Crypt comics. Truly a comedy masterpiece," said Beetlejuice.  
  
Before he could reach the comic, an ear-piercing scream rang out from his wrist. It startled him so much that he accidentally pushed himself away from the bookshelf. "Whoa!" yelled Beetlejuice as the ladder fell backwards and he crashed onto the floor. After he picked himself up, he muttered, "Good thing I'm already dead or that would have killed me."  
  
Then he remembered the screaming. "That's the Blood Red Alert! There must be trouble," he said. He rolled up his sleeve revealing his own skull watch and pressed a button. An image of Lydia appeared in the mouth of the skull. "Lydia, what's wrong?" he asked.  
  
"There's trouble here at the college, BJ. Mecha-Reaper is here with some sort of monster from the Neitherworld. I don't know what it is yet. But it's shrinking the heads of students and turning them into mind-controlled zombies. We need you and Jack to get over here quickly," said Lydia in a whispered voice. "I'm on my way, Lyds. In the meantime, you and the doc try to hold them off," said Beetlejuice. "We can't. They've got us trapped in the classroom with Claire and the other students," said Lydia. "Just hang in there, Lydia. We'll be there soon," said Beetlejuice. Lydia's image vanished from the watch's screen.  
  
'I knew this sort of thing would happen. I know the reason why Dr. Grim sent his goons to attack the college. They're trying to get at Lydia to get to me. Well, this time, they've gone too far,' thought Beetlejuice as rage boiled within him.  
  
"Jack!" called Beetlejuice. In a few moments, the doors of the library opened and Jack rushed in. "I heard the Blood Red Alert. What's the matter?" asked the skeleton. "No time to explain. Lydia and the doc are in trouble at the college. We've got to get over there quick," said Beetlejuice raising his skull watch to his left hand. "Time to go to work. I hope this transport technology works right. After all, Dr. Notrub only recently complete my battle gear," said Jack raising his own skull watch.  
  
"Ready, Jack?" asked Beetlejuice. "Ready, Beetlejuice," said Jack. Then in unison they yelled, "Let's get spooky!" They pressed the buttons in the left eye sockets and instantaneously, they were bathed in glowing blue light.  
  
From the light where Beetlejuice stood, his voice rang out, "Beetlejuice! The ghost with the most! Fright Force Blaster!" The light vanished from around Beetlejuice and he stood wearing a black and white armored suit along with a black and white striped cape and a black and white striped hood covering the top half of his face. His weapon, the Fright Force Blaster, a black metal box was attached to his back and the fingerless gloves attached to it were covering his hands.  
  
Then Jack's voice called, "Jack Skellington! The Pumpkin King! Skeleton Sabers!" The glow around Jack vanished and he stood in his new battle suit. He was covered in pumpkin orange armor. His head was encased in a metal Jack-O-Lantern. His empty eye sockets gazed through the eyeholes of the Jack-O-Lantern and his mouth could be seen from behind its wide scary grin. On his back was a double scabbard containing two swords.  
  
"This armor is really impressive. Dr. Notrub told me that it's lightweight and yet strong enough to resist the mightiest of blows," said Jack. "It's show time, Jack! To the basement!" yelled Beetlejuice as he floated out of the library with Jack running beside him.  
  
As Beetlejuice floated and Jack ran down the stairs to Dr. Notrub's basement laboratory, Beetlejuice called, "Doomie! Rev it up! We've got an emergency!"  
  
Sitting in the center of the laboratory facing the entrance to a tunnel was a green convertible car. It's grill was grinning mouth and it's headlights were eyes. It was sleeping until it heard Beetlejuice call and then it woke up. Beetlejuice and Jack quickly jumped into the front seat of Doomie.  
  
"No time to explain, Doomie. Lydia and Dr. Notrub are in trouble at the college," said Beetlejuice. Doomie nodded and sped off down the tunnel.  
  
"Uh Beetlejuice, aren't we forgetting something?" asked Jack. "We have everything we need," said Beetlejuice. "Did you remember to open the door at the end of the tunnel so we don't crash?" asked Jack. "Uh oh," said Beetlejuice looking ahead. The automatic door at the end of the tunnel wasn't open. Beetlejuice shrieked as his eyes bulged out of their sockets. Jack screamed too.  
  
Beetlejuice quickly turned around and stretched his arm back toward the laboratory. His hand stretched around several corners and pulled on a lever. The automatic door opened and they barely made it out as Doomie soared into the sky. "I must talk to Dr. Notrub about rigging the automatic doors to open whenever Doomie enters the tunnel like they do when the Creep Captor is called. On the bright side, these new flight modifications I built into Doomie work great," said Beetlejuice looking over at Jack.  
  
Jack looked scared stiff. "What's the matter? Does the Pumpkin King have a fear of flying?" asked Beetlejuice. "Let's just say I'm not very fond of flying. Especially after the time I was shot out of the sky on Christmas Eve," said Jack. "Don't worry, Jack. We're not getting shot out of the sky today. I hope," said Beetlejuice. The ghost and the skeleton in their monster car continued on their flight toward the college. They hoped they weren't too late to save Lydia and Dr. Notrub. 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5  
  
At the college, in the gym, Mecha-Reaper sat impatiently on the stage. He had shed his cloak so he now looked like a muscular skeleton with horns, bat wings and clawed hands and feet. He clutched his scythe tightly in his claws. Harry the Haunted Hunter stood on the floor watching his head-shrunk victims drag in screaming students.  
  
Mecha-Reaper grunted in an annoyed tone. "We've rounded up several students and not one of them is the one we're looking for. Head-shrink these students and send them out to join the others," said Mecha-Reaper.  
  
Harry then aimed his blunderbuss at the captive students. They screamed as he pulled on the trigger. A blast of purple light emitted from the blunderbuss toward the students. Harry fired as much blasts as was needed. Those who already had their heads shrunk let the students go. The students writhed on the floor as their heads shrunk. As their heads shrank, their mouths became stitched shut and their hair tied up into topknots. "Round up everyone in this college, my head-shrunk slaves," ordered Harry. The new victims nodded their miniaturized heads and marched out of the gym.  
  
Mecha-Reaper growled again. "We're getting nowhere at this rate. I think we've enslaved nearly half the students and faculty in this college and we still haven't found Lydia Deetz. I say we should go out and find her ourselves," said Mecha-Reaper. "This campus is very big, you metal moron. If I've learned one thing while hunting in the Neitherworld, it is to not go to your prey, but have your prey come to you," said Harry. "Don't take that tone with me, Pea Brain! Remember, I'm Master's right hand minion so I call the shots!" argued Mecha-Reaper.  
  
Just then, one of the head-shrunk football players marched into the gym and whispered something to Harry. "This slave has informed me that one of the teachers and his students have sealed themselves in the photography lab," said Harry. "Photography lab? Wait a minute. Dr. Notrub teaches photography and Lydia Deetz is in his class. Wait here, Harry. I'll be back soon enough. Keep up the head shrinking. These enslaved people will make great additions to Master's army," said Mecha-Reaper as he stalked out of the gym. He never noticed the two figures observing everything through the skylight.  
  
On the roof of the gym, Beetlejuice and Jack were stunned at what they had seen. Doomie was parked nearby. "This is bad. Mecha-Reaper has discovered where Lydia and the doc are. He's going there right now," said Beetlejuice in a frantic tone. "What about the Neither-monster?" asked Jack. "I definitely know this guy. It's Harry the Haunted Hunter, one of the Neitherworld's best hunters. No beast in the Neitherworld stands a chance against Harry. Of course, thanks to Dr. Grim, he's become an even more deadlier hunter. He can now shrink people's heads with his gun and control them through some kind of mind link," said Beetlejuice.  
  
"What should we do?" asked Jack. "Here's the plan. I'll go after Mecha- Reaper and try to stop him from getting at Lydia. You fight Harry and try to induce enough fear in him so that I can paralyze him with the Ultimate Fright Force," said Beetlejuice. "I shall try my best, Beetlejuice. It's definitely an appropriate time to test out my Skeleton Sabers," said Jack.  
  
"Just be careful, Jack. This is your first time as a full-fledged Spooky Hero. Watch the gun," said Beetlejuice. "Dr. Notrub told me that my Sabers can deflect energy blasts of any kind. I'll be okay. Just find Lydia and Dr. Notrub before Mecha-Reaper does," said Jack. "Good luck. Doomie, stay up here until I call you," said Beetlejuice. The car honked in agreement. Beetlejuice then flew off the roof and headed for the entrance. Jack remained on the roof and started to lift up the skylight.  
  
Down in the gym, Harry was aiming his blunderbuss at three more captured students who were being held by more of the head-shrunk football players. "Prepare to join the ranks of the pinheads, students," said Harry. But before he could pull the trigger, a voice from behind him yelled, "Let those students go, hunter!"  
  
"Huh?" grunted Harry as he turned around. He saw a really thin person dressed in orange armor and a pumpkin face helmet. "Who are you?" asked Harry. "The only thing I'm telling you is that I'm the newest member of the Spooky Heroes and I'm here to stop you from terrorizing the students," said Jack as he reached for the scabbards on his back and pulled out two bone white curved swords with a black spot on each of them. He put them together in front of his face and they made the image of a horrible skull. Jack pressed a button on each of the Sabers and they were instantly covered in a green glow.  
  
Harry growled and fired his blunderbuss at the skeleton. Jack swung one of his swords and deflected the purple blast toward the open skylight. It soared harmlessly into the sky.  
  
"Get him!" ordered Harry. The enslaved football players let go of their captives, who promptly rushed out of the gym and charged at Jack. Jack backed up against the wall while placing the Skeleton Sabers back into their scabbards. "I surrender!" he said. The players didn't stop charging. But moments before they could tackle the skeleton, Jack leapt into a forward flip over the players. The players slammed into the wall and knocked themselves out. "I was bluffing, you head-shrunk fools. It seems having your heads shrank hasn't done wonders for your intelligence," said Jack as he pulled out the Skeleton Sabers again and faced Harry again.  
  
Harry growled angrily. He stowed his blunderbuss on his back and lifted his hat off his head and let it dangle on his back. Jack gasped as he saw Harry's own shrunken head. "Well, that explains why your new power is head- shrinking. Although, whoever did it to you didn't do a very good job. I know some witch doctors who did better head-shrinking jobs in Halloweentown," said Jack.  
  
Jack's remark got Harry even angrier although he couldn't express it with his stitched up mouth. He pulled out two long hunting knives. "A true hunter hunts with more than a gun. Let's see your swords match my knives," said Harry. The skeleton and the deceased hunter charged at each other with swords and knives clashing.  
  
'I must keep him distracted until Beetlejuice finds Lydia and Dr. Notrub. I only hope he can get to them before Mecha-Reaper does because they can't reveal that they are Spooky Heroes,' thought Jack as he continued to duel with Harry.  
  
In fact, Beetlejuice was not getting any closer to finding Lydia, Dr. Notrub or Mecha-Reaper. As he floated through the hallways looking for them, he kept running into more of Harry's slaves. "Have a little taste of fear, Shrunk Skulls!" he yelled as he flicked his wrists up. Bright green beams blasted from the palms of the fingerless gloves he was wearing. The beams struck two of the slaves and after Beetlejuice had finished, they ran off screaming.  
  
"Guess I overdid it. Scared them too much. I really hate to fight living people. But I have no choice. Now where did that hunk of maniacal metal go?" he asked as he looked for any sign of Mecha-Reaper. Suddenly, one of the head-shrunk slaves grabbed him from behind. Beetlejuice responded by reaching back and pulling him over his head. He slammed the slave on the ground. He was about to blast it with his Fright Force Blaster until he stopped suddenly.  
  
"Which way to the photography lab?" he demanded. The slave pointed to the right hallway. Beetlejuice nodded and then floated off. "I'm coming Lydia!" he yelled.  
  
Meanwhile, in the photography lab, Lydia and some of the other students of Dr. Notrub's class were trying to reinforce their barricade in front of the door by pushing on it. The sounds of the enslaved students banging on the door were continuing. "Keep that barricade up! We've got to keep them out until help has arrived," ordered Dr. Notrub.  
  
"The authorities in this town sure take their sweet time!" yelled Claire angrily. 'Nobody in this town can take on these guys. Except us. I hope Beetlejuice gets here soon,' thought Lydia.  
  
All of a sudden, the banging stopped. "They're gone! We're saved!" exclaimed Claire. Just then, a scythe blade cut through the door. "We're not saved!" yelled Lydia as she and the other students backed away from the door. 'Oh no! Mecha-Reaper's found us!' thought Dr. Notrub with a look of terror on his face. The scythe hacked away the door and their barricade and then the evil scythe-carrying robot lurched into the lab. Claire and the students screamed at the sight of Mecha-Reaper. He chuckled evilly.  
  
"How noble of you, doctor. Trying to protect your students. Unfortunately, your efforts have been in vain," said Mecha-Reaper. 'Better pretend like I don't know this robot or the other students will get suspicious,' thought Dr. Notrub. "Whoever you are, I demand you leave this college at once! You have no right to terrorize and shrink the heads of our students!" he yelled angrily while walking up to the evil machination. Mecha-Reaper raised his clawed hand and swatted Dr. Notrub to the side. Dr. Notrub flew up against the wall and grunted. He collapsed onto the floor.  
  
"Dr. Notrub!" cried Lydia as she rushed across the room toward the fallen doctor. But Mecha-Reaper grabbed her by the arm. "You're coming with me, Elvira. My master wishes to see you," he said as he turned around and walked out of the room dragging the squirming girl.  
  
As he stepped into the doorway, he turned to the right and said, "Take the doctor and the rest of the students to Harry and have him do a number on their heads." "Wait! You got who you wanted! Why punish us?" asked Claire. "Simple enough, you little brat. I'm a machine programmed for evil and evil is what I intend to do to all of you," said Mecha-Reaper as he dragged Lydia to the left.  
  
More of the enslaved students filed into the photography lab and started to inch toward the terrified students. Dr. Notrub remained on the floor nodding groggily. His students were in deep trouble and he was in no position to help them. 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6  
  
Claire and the other students backed up against the wall while the evil head-shrunk slaves came closer and closer. "I knew this town was weird! Just as weird as those strange occurrences that happened to me back in Peaceful Pines. Why do bad things always happen to good people?" cried Claire.  
  
The enslaved students were about to grab onto the normal students when all of a sudden, a pair of hands grabbed the shoulders of lead one and pulled him back through the door. The others turned around and saw Beetlejuice standing just outside the doorway. He was fighting with the leader until he tossed him off to the side. The others turned their attention to the ghost and charged at him. But Beetlejuice did the same to all of them. After they were all tossed aside, he let loose a shot from his Fright Force Blaster. The sounds of the slaves screaming was heard as Beetlejuice stepped into the room.  
  
"Is everyone okay?" he asked. "You! I should have known that you so- called heroes were behind this. Shrinking the heads of students and pretending to stop them so you can make yourselves look good," said Claire stepping up to Beetlejuice. "Listen, Miss Snob Hill, I don't have time for this. Where's your teacher?" asked Beetlejuice flashing Claire an angry look from behind his mask.  
  
The students pointed in the direction of where Dr. Notrub laid on the floor. Dr. Notrub was still groaning. Beetlejuice rushed over and helped the good doctor to his feet. "Are you all right?" asked Beetlejuice. Dr. Notrub regained his composure and said, "Yes, I'm fine. But one of my students was abducted by a horrible mechanical skeleton wielding a scythe. We've got to help her." Beetlejuice looked at the group of scared and confused students and realized who Dr. Notrub meant. He let out a small gasp as a look of dread appeared on his concealed face. "Don't worry. I'll save her. You get these other students to safety. I've gotten rid of most of the enslaved ones so you should have no trouble in getting them out," said Beetlejuice. "You got it," said Dr. Notrub. Beetlejuice turned around and ran out the doorway.  
  
Dr. Notrub faced his students. "Come, students. We must get out of here as quickly as possible," said Dr. Notrub. "Are you serious? You're actually going to trust that freakish nut?" asked Claire. "Listen, Miss Brewster, considering the circumstances, we don't have much of a choice. Now follow me," said Dr. Notrub as he headed for the doorway. The students followed him. As he headed down the hallways to the exit, Dr. Notrub hoped that Beetlejuice was right. 'I hope he'll be able to save Lydia. I know how much she means to him. But if I know Beetlejuice, Mecha-Reaper's in for a good beating. I'll join him after I get the students to a safe place. I also wonder how Jack's doing. I hope they'll both be okay until I can get there,' thought Dr. Notrub.  
  
High in the air, Mecha-Reaper soared above the college with the aid of his jetpack. He held Lydia to his chest with his right arm. She squirmed as she tried to escape the evil robot's grip. "Put me down, you hunk of junk!" she yelled. "Quit squirming. Keep in mind that a fall from this height would get you an instant trip to the Neitherworld. And you're no good to my master dead. Once I get you into the clutches of my master, your ghost friend will have no choice but to submit to my master's demands," said Mecha-Reaper with an evil cackle.  
  
Suddenly, something zoomed past Mecha-Reaper. "Huh?" said the evil machine looking ahead. His evil eyes squinted as he saw something in the distance turn around and head back toward him. Then he gasped. Floating in front of him was Doomie who was wearing an angry look on his face. And standing on Doomie's hood wearing a expression just as similar was Beetlejuice. "Beetlejuice!" called Lydia. "Let her go, Reaper! Or prepare to be juiced!" yelled the ghost angrily.  
  
Mecha-Reaper growled at Beetlejuice. Then an evil smile crept on his skull- like face. He took hold of Lydia's collar and held her out to the side. "Whatever you say, ghost," Mecha-Reaper cackled as he let go. Lydia fell down screaming. "Lydia!" exclaimed Beetlejuice as he jumped off Doomie and floated down toward the plummeting girl.  
  
Mecha-Reaper grinned. "Now while he's distracted, I'll give him such a shock that I'll be able to incarcerate him. Master will be so pleased when I bring him Beetlejuice instead of his girlfriend," said Mecha-Reaper as he prepared to swoop down. But before he could make a move, Doomie crashed right into him. "Get away from me, you traitor! You should be serving my master instead of fighting on Beetlejuice's side," said Mecha-Reaper. But Doomie wouldn't back off. He was determined to make sure that his creator would rescue his other creator. And he wasn't going to let Mecha-Reaper interfere.  
  
Beetlejuice, in the meantime, was flying as fast as he could to stop Lydia from crashing to the ground. "Beetlejuice, help me!" yelled Lydia. "Don't worry, Lyds. I'll get you," said Beetlejuice.  
  
Suddenly, Beetlejuice started to slow down. A feeling of fatigue swept over the ghost. 'Oh no! Not now! I've been using my energy too much that I'm getting tired. I wish I had the full extent of my powers. But I can't let that stop me from saving Lydia. She means more to me than my own afterlife,' thought Beetlejuice. He shook off the fatigue and sped up his dive.  
  
Before Lydia hit the ground, Beetlejuice caught up to her and grabbed her around the waist. The ghost turned upright and landed on the ground holding the girl in his arms. "Beetlejuice! Thanks!" exclaimed Lydia as she hugged her ghost friend around his neck. "Ah Lydia. You'd do the same for me, know what I mean? Heck, you did the same for me when you and the doc saved me from Dr. Grim. Nobody messes with us, right?" asked Beetlejuice. "Right BJ," said Lydia as she gave Beetlejuice a quick kiss on the cheek. Beetlejuice grinned and small wisps of steam came out of his ears.  
  
Then they heard an angry roar from up above. They both looked up and saw Mecha-Reaper diving toward them. They both jumped away before Mecha-Reaper could strike. Mecha-Reaper turned upright and landed on the ground. He slowly walked toward the ghost and the girl.  
  
"Time to teach this mechanical bonehead what happens when he messes with my friends," said Beetlejuice as he cracked his knuckles and approached Mecha- Reaper. "I'll change into my battle suit and give you a hand. Or rather two hands from my Gloves," said Lydia. "See you soon, Lyds," said Beetlejuice as he continued his approach.  
  
Lydia looked around to see if anyone was around to see her. When she had come to the conclusion that no one could see what she was about to do, she said, "All right. Time to get spooky!" She raised her left hand and pressed the button on her skull watch. She was enveloped in blue light. Her voice called out from the light, "Lydia Deetz! Creepiest girl in both worlds! Grip of Fear Gloves!" After she had finished her speech, the glow faded and Lydia stood in a whole new outfit. She wore a purple spider-web patterned poncho over black body armor along with a purple witch's hat and black eye mask. Her weapon, a pair of purple gloves with red crystal fingertips known as the Grip of Fear Gloves, were on her hands. "Time to bust some evil robots," said Lydia.  
  
She turned to face the battle scene and saw her best friend tangling with Mecha-Reaper. Mecha-Reaper slashed at Beetlejuice with his scythe. The specter ducked and let out a blast of F.I.R energy from his right palm. Mecha-Reaper dodged to the right, held his scythe horizontally across his chest like a ninja staff. Beetlejuice approached and grabbed onto Mecha- Reaper's scythe. Mecha-Reaper pushed back while Beetlejuice pushed forward. Both of them were trying to throw the other off balance. "You know, Beetlejuice, this is the third time we've fought. And they say that third time's the charm, so this time, I'll be the victor!" yelled Mecha- Reaper as he did a leg sweep and tripped Beetlejuice. The ghost fell backwards and hit the ground. Mecha-Reaper laughed madly as he raised his scythe up with his right hand.  
  
But before he could bring it down, he found he couldn't. He looked up and saw a pair of purple claw-shaped beams grasping his scythe. He then looked behind himself and saw Lydia. The beams were coming from her Gloves. "Let go of me, you little brat!" he yelled. "Never! Beetlejuice and I are a team. When you mess with one of us, you mess with both us," replied Lydia.  
  
Mecha-Reaper growled. Then he felt something grab his left arm. He turned around and came face to face with Beetlejuice. "Thanks, Lyds. Now let him go and I'll take care of him," he said. Lydia nodded and deactivated the beams. The moment the energy claws vanished, Beetlejuice summoned all his strength and lifted the evil machine into the air. He slammed Mecha-Reaper on the ground hard.  
  
"You say third time's the charm, eh Reaper? Well I say, three strikes and you're out. And you've struck out big time, know what I mean?" asked Beetlejuice. Then he lifted him up again and slammed him down again. He did this several times. Then he started to swing Mecha-Reaper around and around like he was throwing a hammer in the Olympics. The ghost kept a tight grip on Mecha-Reaper's arm.  
  
"Go Beetlejuice go!" cheered Lydia. Suddenly, Mecha-Reaper sailed over her screaming. Lydia turned around and watched as Mecha-Reaper landed about twenty feet away. "Wow! What a toss, BJ!" she said turning back to her ghost friend. Then she gasped.  
  
She saw Beetlejuice standing there with a shocked look on his face as he stared at what he was holding in his hand. He was holding Mecha-Reaper's arm. It had become severed. "Whoa! Guess I don't know my own strength," said Beetlejuice. "It's amazing what you can do even without your powers," said Lydia walking up to Beetlejuice's side. The ghost nodded and then turned his attention to Mecha-Reaper.  
  
The demonic robot had gotten up using his scythe. Sparking wires and circuits protruded from where his left arm used to be and he did not look happy. "Hey Reaper! If you value your other arm, I suggest you go crawling back to your master," called Beetlejuice. Mecha-Reaper snarled. "I'll get you for this, you meddlesome spirit! Next time, I will win!" he yelled as he took off from the ground and flew away.  
  
"That takes care of him," said Beetlejuice. "Where's Doomie?" asked Lydia. Then they heard a series of frantic honks. They both looked up and saw their car caught in a tree. He seemed to be struggling to free himself from the entangled branches. "Don't worry Doomie. We'll get you down," said Beetlejuice as he walked toward the tree. But Lydia grabbed him by the shoulder.  
  
"Hold it, BJ. What about the Neither-monster?" asked Lydia. A loud gunshot rang out. They both turned around. In front of them was Harry the Haunted Hunter brandishing his blunderbuss. "You mean me?" he asked with a horrible chuckle. 


End file.
